Structuring a Report

Before you can paint a report, you must define the report structure. The report structure determines how many report formats the report has, where page breaks occur, whether the report has a summary or an optional summary format, and whether the report has shared formats.

Defining the structure of a report is the most important item when defining any report. The key fields in the index or sort order are used to define the report structure. The structure of the report defines the number of unique report formats. You can have key fields defined in the same report format. Only the key fields and one-to-one relations that use those fields are available at each level.

If you do not define the structure correctly, the proper formats are not available for painting the report. If you do not define the formats correctly, you cannot lay out the information correctly.

To define a report structure

  1. Define an access order. For more information, see Ordering a Report.

    - or -

    On the Report Format form, press Define (F6) and choose Structure.

    The Structure Definition window appears. This window contains the key fields from the access order defined in the Select Order window.

  2. Type a letter at each of the key fields.

    The first format must be the letter A. The remaining formats must be either the same level as the first format, or they must be consecutive and in increasing order (that is, use B to define the next format). You can assign the same letter to consecutive key fields, making the key fields share the same report format.

    The page break defaults to the first key field. You can have a page break on only one field.

  3. To change the page break, select the field you want the page to break on, press Define (F6), and choose Page Break.

    - or -

    If you do not want any page breaks, select the field with the page break, press Define (F6), and choose Page Break Off.

  4. If you want a summary or optional summary format, select the desired key field for the format, press Define (F6), and choose one of the following options.
    Choose To
    Summary Define a summary format for the report.
    Optional Summary Define an optional summary format for the report.

    You can have a summary or optional summary on the same level as the page break.

    - or -

    To remove a summary or optional summary format, select the key field with the format you want to remove and choose Summary Off.

  5. If the report has multiple access orders, you can share report formats defined for one access order with another access order. Select the key field for which you want a shared format, press Define (F6), and choose Shared Format.

    - or -

    To remove the shared format, select the key field with the shared format you want to remove and choose Shared Format Off.

  6. Press OK.

    The Report Format form appears.

    If you defined a summary format for a report, the Report Format form has a Summary Format window for the level marked Summary.

    If you defined an optional summary format for a report, the Report Format form has a Summary Format window and a Report Format window for the level marked Optional Summary.